http://i.imgur.com/prfdzSj.jpg
⋅ CBS News.
⋅ CNN.
⋅ ESPN.
This was on my feed this morning and while I don't know anything about American football I'm troubled by the false rape allegation and the apparent lack of consequences for the person responsible.
I can't find a respectable source covering this side of the story the following is from the UK Daily Mail in 2012, you have been warned.
Banks was exonerated last week after his accuser, Wanetta Gibson, admitted she had made up the whole story of sexual assault ten years ago and had been reluctant to come forward because of a large settlement she received from the school district.
The Los Angeles Times has reported that Gibson also had been worried it would affect her relationship with her two children, now aged four and five.
Banks' exoneration came after Gibson sent him a friend request on Facebook when he left prison in February of 2011 with a tag. In a message, she explained she wanted to 'let bygones be bygones'.
Banks's lawyer, Justin Brooks, told KPCC that Gibson and Banks met and she was caught on video saying there there had been no kidnap and no rape, and would help him clear his record.
Yet she refused to repeat the story to prosecutors as she feared she would have to return a $1.5million payment she won after her mother brought a suit against Long Beach Schools.
She was quoted as telling Banks: 'I will go through with helping you but it's like at the same time all that money they gave us, I mean gave me, I don't want to have to pay it back.'
The 26-year-old has said he does not plan to pursue legal action against his accuser, and Los Angeles prosecutors have said it is unlikely Gibson will be charged with making false accusations, saying it would be a tough case to prove.
Banks was jailed after Gibson accused him of rape in 2002, when he was just 16 and being heavily recruited by a number of colleges, including USC, which had offered him a full scholarship.
He was on the way to the school office to talk about his college applications when he bumped into Gibson, a fellow student, and they went to a stairwell to make out, Brooks told KPCC. He pointed out that they did not have intercourse.
He explained that Banks said something to upset Gibson and they parted on bad terms. She later accused him of kidnapping her, dragging her across the school and raping her in the stairwell.
Investigators tested her but found no physical evidence of rape, Brooks said. Banks maintained they had not had sex and all sexual contact had been consensual.
Yet his then lawyer encouraged the promising student to plead no contest to the kidnap and rape charges, warning Banks he could get 41 years to life in prison if convicted.
Expecting he would serve just 18 months instead, he followed the advice and pleaded no contest. He was in prison for six years.
While there, his case was taken on by Brooks, a lawyer who head the California Innocence Project.
'Brian’s story is so compelling, and his case for innocence so clear, we knew we had to take this on,' said Justin Brooks. 'Brian lost a huge part of his life when he was unjustly sent to prison.'
It seems like for one reason or another no action can be taken against Gibson but what do you guys think? Should she be in jail? Should anyone who makes that kind of false accusation face a prison sentence? Or do you believe that this would make it tougher for legitimate cases to be taken seriously?